AN ELECTION FOR A PROVINCE
THAT WAS UNDER FASCISM WITH A 60 PERCENT VOTER TURNOUT IS GREAT SUCCESS
SAYS FOREIGN MINISTER
By Walter Jayawardhana
It is a great success of the government’s policy when it holds
an election with a voter turn out of sixty percent in the Eastern Province
of Sri Lanka when one considers the province was ruled by a a Fascist
dictatorship only six months ago said Rohitha Bogollagama , Minister
of Foreign Affairs in Birmingham England on Saturday.
Addressing a gathering at Jethavana Viharaya in Birmingham the visiting
Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka said, “ the government’s policy
is to introduce true representations of the people of the Eastern Province
by devolving the powers to the province under a unitary system of government
protecting the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence after
defeating terrorism prevailing in the area.”
Venerable K.Gunawansa Thero, the Chief incumbent of the Viharaya presided
and hailed the Minister‘s visit as the first of a Sri lankan Minister
to Birmingham..
The question of true representative provincial government , Bogollagama
said, was dragging for thirty years without any serious attempt was
being taken to solve it, but President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government
being in office only for 28 months took the bold step of defeating the
terrorists militarily and dawning a new era of installing a true representative
government protecting the democratic rights of the people .
All governments for the last thirty years did lot of sacrifices to
rid the province of terrorism. But this was the first time , concrete
steps were taken, after defeating terrorism to make democracy and true
representative government in the area installed. The minister said few
days before when he met UN Secretary General of the United Nations,
Ban Ki Moon he promised everything possible under the UN aid to uplift
the political and socio economic standards of the people of the area.
He said after the Supreme Court gave a verdict to split the North and
East and hold separate provincial Council elections the government acted
accordingly and the present condition of the province is a great achievement
for democracy. With the political changes, the minister said an economic
awakening is also being brought into the area by massive investments.
The Foreign minister said, the areas existing under the rule of terrorism
currently , the districts of Mulaithivu, Kilinochchi, and parts of Mannar
will be brought under democracy within the next few months.
He said a development committee presided over by Minister Douglas Devananda,
and consisting of Minister Rishad Bathiutheen and Presidential advisor
Basil Rajapaksa has been already appointed . “it is the policy
of the government give back all possible rights of the people irrespective
of language, religion and geographical differences,’ the Minister
emphasized.
He said laws to this effect were available in the law books but never
implemented. Now Tamil police officers are being appointed to serve
Tamil speaking people of the North and the East.
Answering questions why the Iranian President visited Sri Lanka Minister
Bogollagama said he obviously visited Sri Lanka on our President’s
invitation. He said the country has had ancient historical relations
with Sri Lanka and said it is in the geographical vicinity of the country
. For a long period of time Sri Lanka has been using Iranian light crude
for our oil and Sri Lanka now imports about 1000 million dollars worth
of oil annually.
Iran also has invested 950 million dollars to expand our refinery
to double its present capacity and it has invested 450 million dollars
for the Uma Oya development to cultivate an additional 10,000 acres.
Answering another question how the relationship is profitable to Sri
Lanka on a long term basis when it is being looked at adversely in the
West the Foreign Minister said no foreign country has commented adversely
against Sri Lanka regarding its relationship with Iran. He said as a
Non-Aligned nation both relations with the West as well as with the
East is very important to Sri Lanka.
The relationship improves Sri lanka’s international profile as
an independent country and helps the country to be elected to international
bodies like the Human Rights Commission with the help of both East and
the West, the minister said. It provides the country with a value based
international status , the minister said. He said being a neighbour
the Iranian President visited not only Sri Lanka but also India and
Pakistan. The Foreign Minister said even Barak Obama has said he would
enter into a discussion with Iran if he is elected President of the
United States.
Answering another question the Minister said he is thankful to the
government of the United Kingdom for taking into custody those people
who have collected funds for the LTTE using front organizations.
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